SAVVY MAINLINE

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Remembering Radnor’s Heidi Diskin: a life of caring, cut short by depression. Plus, Paoli’s billboard battle, Target fever, Kindred Collective Bryn Mawr, Ardmore murder news, Retail roundup, Etcetera & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

On Sept. 7, three days after her sons started the new school year at Radnor Elementary, Heidi Diskin ended her life.

She was 44.

We share this with you because Heidi would want us to.

“One hundred percent, she would want her story told,” said her husband, J.D., in a phone interview. “My hope is that what happened to Heidi can be a teachable moment. As terrible as this situation is, it’s an even worse tragedy if it doesn’t help others.”

To family and close friends, Heidi’s suicide was a sucker punch – a heart-wrenching coda to 20 years of pain.

To those less close, it seemed, well, inexplicable.

Because Heidi had made mental health advocacy and suicide prevention her life’s work. She’d started a brain health foundation, she’d spoken to countless groups, she’d even hosted a cable TV show about mental health. How could Heidi Diskin – of all people – have succumbed herself?

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Generation Vape: Why Juuling’s not cool; Horse Show’s huge move; Grim find at Philly CC; Fusion upends education in Ardmore & Malvern; Plus, new Grove 1.2.1 & Avery Graham Aesthetics; White Horse Design & more

/ By Lisa and Caroline / /

Summer’s over and kids are back in school – reading, writing, and, increasingly, juuling.

Some are vaping right under our noses – on school buses, in cafeterias, bathrooms and bedrooms – using slick little Juul devices that look like harmless flash drives but are anything but.

Indeed, juuling is turning unsuspecting Main Line teens into nicotine addicts – one surreptitious, sweet-flavored puff at a time.

Seems even the “smart” kids are doing it.

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Multi-family housing boomlet in Tredyffrin? Big plans for Swedesford & Chesterbrook; New Village Play Space & a destination playground; Wins for Willows & Stoneleigh; Brain Fog; All-new Sporting Club & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Holy Lazarus! A long-stagnant stretch of Tredyffrin has a pulse.

The owner of Swedesford Plaza wants to bulldoze the old HH Gregg and build luxury apartments in its place – 250 of them.
After approaching umpteen stores, fitness chains, health systems and grocers for its two empty anchors, Echo Realty is throwing in the retail towel on one of them. In partnership with Bozzuto, Echo plans to build a four-story, 250-unit apartment building at the old HH Gregg site, a permitted use under zoning code.

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Rock on! Wayne’s new music hall; ANEU to Rosemont; Wayne murder/suicide & jailhouse death; Mt. Joy; Eagles’ ‘Case for Smiles’ and more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Great balls of fire! Wayne’s about to get what Ardmore’s had for years: its own live music hall.

118 North will open on N. Wayne Avenue Feb. 15, adding a touch of Austin/Nashville to our fair town.

To which we say: Rock it to us.

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New Year, New Hotspots ahead: Marbles 2.0, Imbibe. Plus, KOP Mall’s radical plan; Singing star nails it in Ardmore; Stoga grad grabs national headlines & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Well, whaddayaknow? Marbles is rolling back to Bryn Mawr.

Fifteen years after the Main Line mainstay near the movie theater went dark, it’s being resurrected – same spot, same owners, same tin ceiling.

The building’s been owned all along by local restaurateurs, George, Michel, Joseph Wakim and their sister, Fadia Wakim Abi-Khattar, who also own Aldar Bistro and Murray’s in Bala and Evviva in Narberth.

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Ex-Stoga aide admits student sexual assaults; New Bryn Mawr BYOB; Fresh ‘Canvas’ for downsizing boomers; Teegarden dogs; Our Closet; Mister Sprinkle & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Guilty as charged. A former teacher’s aide has admitted to the repeated sexual assault of a Conestoga sophomore – in his school office, his car and her bedroom – during the 2016-2017 school year.

After pleading not guilty at his April arraignment, Arthur Phillips changed his plea to guilty last Tuesday and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison.

If Phillips had been younger, Chester County Judge Patrick Carmody said he wouldn’t have accepted the plea deal. “You’re 67, Do you understand that you may never leave jail, that this might be a life sentence?” he asked the defendant.

Phillips said quietly that he understood.

The judge was clearly disgusted by Phillips’ crimes.

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Devon Yard beckons brides & mitzvahs; Saving sex-trafficked girls; Flamingos trending; Shopping scoops; A SAVVY Save the Date & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

The dirt is flying and the bulldozers are busy at the old Waterloo Gardens, now a bustling construction site for Devon Yard.

Good thing, too.

Because URBN is already booking weddings and mitzvahs – from Sept. 1, 2018 onward – at the Yard’s splashy event venue, Terrain Gardens.

Never mind that the project took more than four years to get OK’d; URBN’s confident it can have the whole shebang up and running in less than 12 months.

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New sexual abuse suit vs. Conestoga – most damaging of all? Plus, Tredici debuts, two Nova bars close in Bryn Mawr; Catholic ed back in Berwyn & much more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

The Tredyffrin/Easttown School District is absorbing yet another fusillade – this one, an utterly explosive federal lawsuit that, in effect, blames Conestoga, its culture and staff for the months-long sexual abuse of a 15-year-old female student by 67-year-old TV studio aide Arthur Phillips.

Revolting.

To bolster its case, the suit details T/E’s “recent history of sex-related scandals”:

  • School aide/coach Christine Towers’ affair with a 15-year-old male student. Arrested exactly one year to the day before Phillips, Towers is in jail for her crimes.
  • The “No Gay Thursday” locker room hazing allegations that officials attributed to lax supervision.
  • The middle school sexting/cyberbullying charges.

The suit says the three scandals show a “pattern of deliberate and reckless indifference to signs of ongoing sexual harassment and sexual abuse” in the district.

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Well, Hello, DanDan, Bryn + Dane’s, BodyX, The Cottage, Louella, Orchestra, Hope Chest. Plus, Friends fund funeral for Stoga ’16 star; Axed coach sues Stoga officials & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Devon is fired up over DanDan.

It hasn’t officially opened but the new restaurant – at the old Ella’s near the Devon Acme – is already packin’ ’em in.

Just like it does in Center City.

And for good reason.

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SAVVY SOCIAL: LaBelle rocks Temple gala; Remembering Tricia Cuddy; Bryn Mawr Film, Surrey & Main Line Art Center galas; Kinney fashion show; Bag Bingo; Wynnewood wow home & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

A record-breaking 1,100 people partied with Patti at Temple Auxiliary’s Acres of Diamond’s gala, raising $1.3 million for critical, life-saving care.

A sparkling night at the Please Touch Museum: Guests took a spin on the carousel and bid on silent auction items, then sashayed down a red carpet to dinner under a huge custom tent.

Star power: Two Main Liners! Emcee was Flyers’ anthem singer Lauren Hart, longtime pal of Lindy Snider, wife of Larry Kaiser and daughter of Flyers’ co-founder Ed Snider. Patti LaBelle sparkled in Philadelphia Eagles Kelly green. Her private concert brought down the house.

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